CNN Host, Christine Romans’ Smart is the New Rich; Profiles ScanMyPhotos.com

“Smart is the New Rich: If You Can’t Afford It, Put it Down” by CNN “Your $$$$$” host Christine Romans discusses the practical way to think about money today. This new book profiles ScanMyPhotos.com and company president and CEO Mitch Goldstone. 

About the Author:

Christine Romans is the host of CNN’s Your $$$$$ and a featured correspondent on the network’s American Morning and CNN International. She is a former correspondent for Moneyline and Lou Dobbs Tonight and spent several years reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. In 2004, she received an Emmy Award for her reporting on Exporting America, a Lou Dobbs Tonight investigation into the impact of globalization on U.S. workers. Before joining CNN, Romans reported for Reuters and Knight-Ridder Financial News.

Smart is the New Rich explores how adopting a new approach to money can lead to a healthier financial lifestyle. Each chapter opens with a question about money to begin the conversation about earning, saving, spending, growing, and protecting your money. Using checklists and quizzes, Romans guides you through the “New Normal,” helping you to think differently about your money and relearn good habits for prosperity.

Reexamines the money rules abandoned during the consumer bubble and poses the essential questions we should ask ourselves before spending our money

Provides an interactive, step-by-step guide to all things money, from credit, debt, and savings to investing, taxes, and mortgages

A companion Web site lets you chat with other readers about jobs, mortgage rates, investing, and saving.

For thirty years, the financial rules for life revolved around abundant credit. That bubble has burst. Smart is the New Rich addresses why these rules no longer apply and reveals the steps to make the right money choices moving forward.

From the Inside Flap


It’s over. It, of course, is the bubble economy many Americans enjoyed during the good ol’ days of easy credit, ever-increasing home prices, and using both to live beyond one’s means. Those heady days came crashing down in what former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker calls “the mother of all financial crises.” That crisis led to the Great Recession, and while no one knows whether the worst is behind us, one thing is certain—the old economy of easy money is unlikely to return anytime soon, if ever again.


So what is today’s “new normal,” and what does the future hold? Only you can answer that question, but Christine Romans?—host of CNN’s Your $$$$$?— can help. Smart Is the New Rich: If You Can’t Afford It, Put It Down shows you how living below your means allows you to immediately begin enjoying a healthier and wealthier life while preparing for tomorrow’s economic downturns.

In Smart Is the New Rich, you’ll learn how today’s retro consumers are rediscovering good spending habits and rebooting their expectations by asking important questions before they spend their money:

Do I need this?


Will this make me truly happy, and if so, how?


Can I afford this?


And if you feel like you’re slipping back into the old bubble ways of “buy now, pay later,” you can join other Smart is the New Rich readers in a running conversation with Christine on Facebook or Twitter (@ChristineRomans, http://www.Twitter.com/ChristineRomans).


Some might view life in the new normal as old-fashioned or even un-American, but what’s more American than pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps? Doing so doesn’t mean doing without. Rather, it means better knowing what brings you true happiness and peace of mind.

In the years to come, economists will debate whether the country’s historic economic stimulus was too much, insufficient, or not targeted correctly. Politicians will argue for higher taxes, lower taxes, more regulation, or less government intervention. Let them talk. You can only take care of yourself. It’s time to turn “the mother of all financial crises” into an opportunity to make smarter decisions about earning, spending, saving, growing, and protecting your money. Smart Is the New Rich can help.

From the Back Cover

Smart Is the New Rich

“Christine Romans makes a compelling case that if you want to be rich these days, you first have to be smart—and she shows you how. For those who navigate in rough economic waters—that’s all of us—this is a breezy, easy-to-understand but invaluable guide.”

—David Gergen, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School; Senior Political Analyst, CNN

“Christine Romans is one amazing, super-smart woman who has written a seriously valuable book for everyone who wants to understand and benefit from¿the bewildering new world of money, jobs, healthcare, investing, and much more. Read it right now—Romans can help you live a smarter, much much better life.”

—Alexandra Penney, author of The Bag Lady Papers and former editor of Self magazine

“Who else could turn shopping for a $5 Barbie dress in 1977 into a practical lesson in familyfinance? Christine is close enough to Wall Street to understand the game. Yet she’s far enough away to be plain spoken and practical. From jobs to retirement to mortgages to family, she puts the money picture together. This is a smart book that anyone can understand and put to work.”

—Pat Kiernan, Anchor, NY1 News; Host, The World Series of Pop Culture; founder, PatsPapers.com

“Recharge your financial life with this comprehensive guide to smart money choices, from credit cards to housing to health care. Christine Romans reintroduces readers to the ‘retro rules’ of financial well-being lost in a decade of boom and bust.”

—Laura Rowley, Yahoo! Finance Columnist, and author of Money and Happiness: A Guide to Living the Good Life

Author and CNN veteran money correspondent Christine Romans believes we should live by three qualifiers: living within our means, living with less debt, and being less vulnerable. While some may say this is old-fashioned, today, it’s hard to argue with Romans’ view.